Objective To investigate the empathy levels of medical students in a military medical university and explore the influencing factors.Methods Self-developed demographic information questionnaire,Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSPE-S),Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI),and Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) were used to collect data from June to October 2016.Medical undergraduate students were conveniently enrolled in the survey.SPSS 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis.T test,ANOVA,and chi-square test or Fisher exact test were used to compare the data of different categories of students.Results A total of 683 questionnaires were distributed and 594 valid questionnaires were returned,with a valid response rate of 86.97％.Students had an above-average level of medical empathy with JSPE-S score as (104.11 ± 19.66),and IRI score was (51.63 ± 10.08).There was a statically difference on level of medical empathy between groups of students with different genders,specialties,professional satisfaction,future career desire,and relative courses learning experience (P＜0.05 for all).Medical empathy was significantly negatively correlated with perceived stress (r=-0.392,P=0.000) and significantly positively correlated with perceived stress (r=0.298,P=0.000).Conclusion Targeted strategies should be conducted to improve the empathy levels of students in the military medical university.

Objective:To observe the efficacy and safety of recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) in the treatment of radiation induced thrombocytopenia (RIT) .Methods:From January 2019 to March 2021, 204 cases (including 101 cases of radiotherapy alone and 103 cases of concurrent chemoradiotherapy) were collected retrospectively after radiotherapy and with decreased in blood platelet count <75×10 9/L in Jilin Cancer Hospital. These patients received rhTPO 15 000 U, once a day, subcutaneous, for at least 4 consecutive days, or met the withdrawal criteria blood platelet count ≥100×10 9/L, or the absolute value of blood platelet increase ≥50×10 9/L. The characteristics of blood platelet decline, treatment efficacy, and safety were analyzed. Results:The numbers of radiotherapy treatments with platelets lower than 75×10 9/L in the radiotherapy alone group and the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group were 19 (13, 22) and 13 (10, 17) times, respectively, indicating that patients in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group experienced platelet decline earlier ( Z=-5.27, P<0.001), the lowest values of platelet decline in the two groups were 68 (45, 74) ×10 9/L and 62 (44, 74) ×10 9/L, respectively, with no statistically significant difference ( Z=-1.15, P=0.252). After received rhTPO treatment, the numbers of days that the two groups of patients had platelets <50×10 9/L were 7 (3, 13) d and 7 (5, 11) d, respectively, with no statistically significant difference ( Z=-1.13, P=0.281). After the patients received radiotherapy, rhTPO was started when the platelet count dropped to <75×10 9/L. The number of days required to recover to 75×10 9/L was 4 (2, 10) d in the radiotherapy alone group and 4 (2, 8) d in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group, with no statistically significant difference ( Z=-1.07, P=0.285) ; the number of days required for platelets to recover to 100×10 9/L or for the absolute value to increase by 50×10 9/L was 8 (6, 14) d in the radiotherapy alone group and 11 (8, 16) d in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group. The recovery time of the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group was longer than that of the radiotherapy alone group ( Z=-3.64, P<0.001). Regardless of the baseline level, there was no statistically significant difference in the number of days for platelets to recover to 75×10 9/L after rhTPO treatment between the radiotherapy alone group and the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group ( Z=-1.42, P=0.155; Z=-0.97, P=0.332). The number of days required for the two groups of patients to recover to 100×10 9/L or for the absolute value to increase by 50×10 9/L were 8 (6, 14) d and 11 (8, 16) d, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( Z=-3.64, P<0.001). The numbers of days required for the two groups of patients with baseline platelets ≥50×10 9/L to recover to 100×10 9/L or for the absolute value to increase by 50×10 9/L were 8 (4, 12) d and 10 (8, 16) d, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( Z=-3.12, P=0.002). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the number of days required for the two groups of patients with baseline platelets <50×10 9/L to recover to 100×10 9/L or for the absolute value to increase by 50×10 9/L ( Z=-1.88, P=0.061). The total platelet elevation rate of rhTPO within 20 days of radiotherapy treatment for both groups of patients was 93.63% (191/204), of which 95.05% (96/101) was for radiotherapy alone and 92.23% (95/103) for concurrent chemoradiotherapy, with no statistically significant difference ( χ2=0.68, P=0.410). In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in gender ( χ2=3.47, P=0.063), age ( χ2=2.79, P=0.095), TNM staging ( χ2=5.07, P=0.167), and baseline platelet count ( χ2=0.62, P=0.822) between the two groups.During the radiotherapy cycle, 27 patients (13.23%) received blood platelet infusion, and 158 patients (77.45%) completed the radiotherapy plan without interruption. No rhTPO-related adverse reactions were found. Conclusion:rhTPO in the treatment for RIT can effectively promote the recovery of blood platelet without any adverse reactions, and has good safety.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a kind of cardiovascular diseases originated from atherosclerosis (AS), and chronic inflammation is one of the pathological characteristics. The peripheral blood leukocytes, especially mononuclear cells, play an important role in the AS processes. Recently, in a series of Epigenome-Wide Association Studies (EWAS), multiple DNA differential methylation sites in peripheral blood cells were found to be statistically associated with CHD, which suggested that these DNA differential methylation sites might serve as new risk factors for CHD. The recognition of the variant of DNA methylation as a common epigenetic nucleic acid modification in the occurrence and development of CHD, is ongoing. DNA methylation has the potential to become warning biomarkers, which might provide new ideas and evidences for mechanistic studies of CHD.

BACKGROUNDCurrently there is a trend towards reducing radiation dose while maintaining image quality during computer tomography (CT) examination. This results from the concerns about radiation exposure from CT and the potential increase in the incidence of radiation induced carcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the lowest radiation dose for maintaining good image quality in adult chest scanning using GE CT equipment.

METHODSSeventy-two adult patients were examined by Gemstone Spectral CT. They were randomly divided into six groups. We set up a different value of noise index (NI) when evaluating each group every other number from 13.0 to 23.0. The original images were acquired with a slice of 5 mm thickness. For each group, several image series were reconstructed using different levels of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) (30%, 50%, and 70%). We got a total of 18 image sequences of different combinations of NI and ASIR percentage. On one hand, quantitative indicators, such as CT value and standard deviation (SD), were assessed at the region of interest. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated. The volume CT dose index (CTDI) and dose length product (DLP) were recorded. On the other hand, two radiologists with ≥ 5 years of experience blindly reviewed the subjective image quality using the standards we had previously set.

RESULTSThe different combinations of noise index and ASIR were assessed. There was no significant difference in CT values among the 18 image sequences. The SD value was reduced with the noise index's reduction or ASIR's increase. There was a trend towards gradually lower SNR and CNR with an NI increase. The CTDI and DLP were diminishing as the NI increased. The scores from subjective image quality evaluation were reduced in all groups as the ASIR increased.

CONCLUSIONSIncreasing NI can reduce radiation dose. With the premise of maintaining the same image quality, using a suitable percentage of ASIR can increase the value of NI. To assure image quality, we concluded that when the NI was set at 17.0 and ASIR was 50%, the image quality could be optimal for not only satisfying the requirements of clinical diagnosis, but also achieving the purpose of low-dose scanning.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Algorithms ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiation Dosage ; Radiography, Thoracic ; methods ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods